Playing with Hell's Fire
by queenkimochii
Summary: Star joins the ranks of the Holy Knights to see if she can find any suspicion within the Order of the Sword, but what she finds may be too dangerous for her to handle alone. Set in-game. DantexOC/NeroxOC pairing.
1. Chapter 1

*At _Devil May Cry_*

Lady was explaining to Dante about some organization called "the Order of the Sword" in some city named Fortuna causing some trouble when he, Trish, and I were eating pizza that Dante had ordered.

"The Order of the Sword, huh?"  
>"Yes," replied Lady. "Have you heard of them?"<br>"Sorry. Religion and I don't mix," Dante joked.  
>"It's a small congregation that's gathers in the castle town of Fortuna," she explained. "I guess the only people who would've heard of it are the ones who take interest in this type of thing."<br>"Heh. Like you."  
>"Exactly."<br>"Sounds like a fantastic group of people to meet," I teased.

Lady chuckled a little before turning back to Dante. "So how much do you know about Sparda?" she asked him.  
>"Well, from what I can figure, there's a lot of…uh, confusion surrounding him." Dante glanced at Trish as if he needed her to jump in to help. But she ignored him, eating her slice of pizza.<p>

"The story goes that Sparda served as the futile lord of the city long ago. The people who live there today take these legends as truth and worship him. Just like a god."  
>"They worship a demon as a god?" asked a curious Dante. Trish licked her fingers to get any remains of her pizza off. I finished my last piece of crust as I listened intently.<p>

"Peaceful worship can't be condemned," Lady continued. "But the real problem is the Order. Lately, they've been running amok, catching demons, and even butted in on some of my jobs," she said, annoyed at the fact that the Order have totally been screwing with her career as a demon hunter. I saw Trish get up towards the back of the room, where the sword of Sparda was kept in place.

"Oh. Maybe they're starting a zoo," suggested Dante. Lady grabbed his pizza straight from his hand and said, "Not just demons. They've also been targeting Devil Arms. Like the ones _you_ have."  
>"Okay, a museum. So what?" He and Lady argued on like that when Trish came up to me and said, "Hey, Star? You wanna come with me on a little adventure?" She sounded very hopeful.<br>"Sure. I love adventures," I answered enthusiastically.  
>"Great! Let's go." And just like that, we were off to the town of Fortuna.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what are we going to do when we get there?" I asked Trish.  
>"We're going to join the ranks of the Order, my dear, sweet Star."<br>"Oh. That should be fun, right?"  
>"Of course it will be! Just stick with me and you'll be fine," she assured me. Then she began shifting her appearance and apparel. She now wore a very revealing jump-suit type of clothing, boots that went up to her thighs, and had a darker complexion and white short hair.<br>"Whoa! Why are you changing?" I asked, shocked and confused.  
>"Well, I don't want anyone to recognize me. I'm sure they've heard of Dante Sparda and <em>Devil May Cry<em> if the Order believed in the Sparda legends."  
>"Oh, good point. So what's your new name going to be? Gloria?" I joked.<br>"Haha. You just read my mind," she laughed. "And what about you? Are you going to change or keep your appearance?"  
>"I might as well keep it. The Order won't know '<em>Star<em>' as a partner of Dante. I haven't been hanging around him as long as you and Lady have."  
>"Hmm. You have a point…" Her sentenced trailed off. We continued onward to Fortuna.<p>

***  
>"So this is the place, huh?"<br>"It would seem so. The description that the solider back there said matches what we're seeing here."  
>"Order of the Sword Headquarters... It's….large…." I was astonished by the building's grand size.<br>"Shall we go in?" asked Gloria.  
>"Certainly!"<p>

***  
>"We've beaten every rank so far. How much more do we have to go?" I panted.<br>"One…and I think it's between the two of us," said Gloria.  
>"What? What do you mean? As in a fight against each other?"<br>"Exactly."  
>"Well. What are we waiting for?" I smirked.<br>"Careful, sweetheart," she crooned. "That kind of attitude could get you badly injured."  
>"We'll see about that! C'mon!"<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

_Well, this is fun…_ I couldn't bear this ceremony much longer. Nothing much has happened since it started. But I couldn't just simply leave, as I was required to attend and stay if anything came up out of nowhere... Well, that, and because of my captain, Credo. The only thing that interested me was his sister, Kyrie's singing and even that couldn't get rid of my boredom. I stared at the ceiling when someone tapped my shoulder and said, "Excuse me."

"Oh. Sorry." As I lowered my legs to let the person through, I saw his features. _Whoa… He looks like Dante…_ He was tall, slender, and very handsome. With his snow-white hair and light-blue eyes, I could've sworn he was Dante. But he wore a blue coat rather than the infamous red coat, and he seemed to be…cooler, for lack of a better word. "Um…excuse me? But you wouldn't happen to be Nero, right?" I asked.

"Yes. Do I know you?" he said with suspicion.  
>"Oh. Um… I'm the new girl, Star. I'm sure they must have informed you about me."<br>"Oh, right. Credo did tell me about you. It's nice to meet you," Nero replied, putting his hand in front of me for a hand shake.  
>"Likewise," I say, taking his hand. "Forgive me if I'm rude…but I couldn't help but notice that you have hurt your arm. Are you alright?"<br>"Not a problem. It's just a flesh wound."  
>"Right…. Also, I see that you have a box. Is it for someone?"<br>"Huh? Oh, this." He lifted up the box. "Yes. It's for my friend, Kyrie."  
>"You mean the girl who was just up there singing?"<br>"Yeah."  
>"How cute." I smiled. "You must really like her."<br>"Well…I…." he hesitated and was blushing.  
>"Oh, forgive me! I tend to talk a lot. And besides, it's none of my business," I apologized quickly. But he laughed and said, "It's okay. You know what? You're not so bad."<br>"Oh... Uh... Thank you. You're not such a slack yourself." We kept talking like we've known each other for ages while His Holiness was giving his speech. Then Kyrie came by to sit next to us.

"Hello, Star."  
>"Hello, Kyrie. You were great up there," I complimented.<br>"Thank you," she said, then looked at Nero. "Hi, Nero." But he just ignored her like she was just another person walking by. _Ouch… That's cold._

"Two thousand years ago,"—His Holiness was saying—" the Dark Knight, Sparda, turned against his demon brethren and took up his sword for the sake of mankind. Though, despite his brave efforts in our names, I fear some have forgotten the truth of that great sacrifice." _Wow. He seems really into it, doesn't he?_ I mentally asked.

"If the events of that terrible time were to reoccur, the fusing of both the demonic and human realms, we, weak humans, would have no means by which to oppose our submission. And so I ask you to unite! And pray that even if such a dark time of chaos were to revisit us, our gracious Savior would shelter us from the storm. Let us pray!"  
>I glanced over at Nero and Kyrie and saw that Kyrie was holding the rectangle box in her hands. <em>I wonder why they're not saying anything to each other…<em> I was hopelessly confused.

Then Nero began to stand up. "What's wrong?" Kyrie asked.  
>"I'm outta here," he replied.<br>"But it's not over yet." She leaned forward, hand halfway reaching out.  
>"All this preaching's putting me to sleep." Nero started to walk away.<br>"Well, I'll come with you," I proposed and joined him.

Kyrie looked nervously around and got up. But Nero started to slow down and I looked at him, seeing his gaze on his arm. I looked down at the cast, seeing a faintly blue glow, along with a metallic noise. _What the…?_

We all looked up just as something came crashing down the window and landing on the ledge in front of His Holiness. It was a man in a red leather trench coat with a sword on his back... _Dante? It's about friggin' time!_ I glanced at Nero before looking back to see Dante pull out his gun and shoot His Holiness. Everyone stared in shock as he stood up and turned around, blood covering his face. _Interesting entrance there, Dante…_

That's when all hell broke loose.

"Your Holiness!" Credo yelled, pulling out his sword from his hip. Nero was staring at him while I held Kyrie next to me.  
>"Star, get Kyrie out of here." Nero said to me.<br>"Right," I said and I grabbed Kyrie's hand. "Come on. This way."  
>"But Nero…" she protested.<br>"He'll be fine. Let's go!"

But I glanced back at the church door then to Kyrie. "Kyrie, go find Credo and stay with him," I ordered before turning back to the church.  
>"Where are you going?" she asked. I looked back at her. "I'm going to go help Nero. I'm not sure he can stand a chance against that man." And I ran back into the church.<p>

I came in, looking at the battle between Nero and Dante. Nero's cast was gone, his arm revealed. _What is that? His arm..._ I looked up and saw a couple benches coming towards my way. I leaped up just in time and landed on the top, sitting on the bench and my gun, Trinity, in hand."Now, now, boys. Is that any way to behave when there is a lady present?" I asked sarcastically.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nero asked. "You're supposed to be with—" He was interrupted by Dante and jumped to dodge his sword and sat on the bench next to me. "She's with Credo," I explained. "Now that's settled, why don't we take out Mr. Show-Off for his rudeness?"

"So you're looking play, huh?" Dante joked. We both looked at him. "Alright, I've got some time to kill."  
>"Tough guy, huh? Well, I think we'll have to take you down a couple notches," replied Nero.<br>"Whatever you say, kid."  
>Nero looked at me. "Shall we?" he asked, his hand gesturing me to go first. "Of course." I smirked at Dante. "Wanna dance, big boy?" I teased.<p>

And we all fought each other; Nero and I, back to back, against Dante, in synchronized steps. And whenever I had the chance to have Dante against me, I would say quietly to him, "Guess I get to finally have a rematch against you," or "Having fun there, Dante?" And he would say to me, "Guess you do," or "You bet I am."

Ultimately, after the tiring battle, Nero hits Dante's Rebellion, sending him flying across the room before Nero caught his leg and pulled Dante towards him. He punched him so hard that he went straight to the ground and sent Rebellion a few feet away from them. _Ooh... That's gonna leave a mark._ Nero then began punching Dante in the face repeatedly.

Dante, on the other hand, didn't even do anything in opposition. He just laid there, his face holding no emotion. _I guess that's one way to "take it like a man"..._ I could see brief glimpses of his Devil Trigger self from the power of Nero's punch. Then he took Dante's neck and threw him against the Sparda statue, picked up the Rebellion sword, threw that at Dante, and it pierced his chest and stuck him on the statue like a piece of paper pinned to a notice board. Dante held up for a second before dropping both his head and arms down, acting like he was dead. _Hmph. Show-off._

I stood by Nero and asked, "Did that calm you down by any chance? Because I don't want that to happen to me when I piss you off."  
>"Shut up," he growled.<br>"Hey, hey! Easy there!" I held up my hands, palms facing him, in surrender. "Whatever. Let's get out of here," he said to me and we started to walk away when Dante had managed to say, "Getting better…"

We both looked back at him in surprise... Well, I had to _act_ surprised, at least. "I would even go far as to say…" he continued to say as he pulled himself off the statue. "That I underestimated your…. Abilities."  
>"You aren't human, are you?" asked Nero.<p>

He observed us as he was saying, "We're the same...you, her, and..." He pulled the sword out of his chest, panting. "I... And them." He gestured to the bodies on the ground. Nero and I looked over at the body, noticing the black skin and orange eyes. "Though I suspect you both carry something different from the others." We jerked our heads up to see him sitting on the roof.

"What are you talking about?" Nero asked. "You will come to learn the meaning soon enough," Dante replied. "But… business beckons." He got up and disappeared from view.

"Hey!" We both yelled, Nero pulling out a gun and shot a single bullet in his direction.  
>Dante came back into view and said, "Adios, kids," before disappearing again. "Come back here!" I yelled and went after him onto the roof, only leaving Nero behind for a short time to talk to him. I looked around the roof for him.<p>

And there was Dante, standing behind the tower of the church. "Hey, there, Star!" he greeted me. "Funny running into you here. I was wondering where you and Trish had left off to."  
>"Oh, you know. We just wanted to do some site-seeing in Fortuna."<p>

"Yeah, right. Well, at least I know you're safe." He started to pet my head like I was his kid sister, messing up my hair. "Hey, watch the hair! I don't want to have to redo it because you ruined it," I complained. "Anyway, how was that little trip down Memory Lane when your sword was impaled through you?"  
>"Painful. You don't know how many times that has happened to me."<br>"I can imagine."

"So, I guess I'll leave you to your little friend down there. Oh, and do try to stay out of trouble. I don't want to hear from the kid that you were killed in some freak accident, okay?" he tells me.  
>"You worry way too much! But I promise to stay alive," I reassure him. Then he came up to me and hugged me. "I mean it, Star. I don't want to lose you."<p>

"O...okay, Dante. I promise." I hugged him back before he let me go and I was blushing like crazy.  
>"Heh. You look cute when you're blushing," he remarked as he touched my cheek. "I'll see you two soon," was the last thing he said before he disappeared. I touch the spot where his hand was at and kept it there before I went back to Nero's side.<p> 


End file.
